The Nigerian Union of Teachers on Thursday called for immediate release of the over 200 abducted girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.
The Chairman, FCT chapter of the union, Hassan Jibir, made the call at the ‘Bring Back our Girls’ rally staged at Zone 7 in Abuja.
The national body of the union on Wednesday in Abuja directed the closure of all schools nationwide to protest the abduction.
Jibir said that the protest was in solidarity with the families of the abducted girls in Chibok and the slain teachers.
He said: “The abduction of the girls is very painful.
“The girls are the ones facing the shock of the insurgencies.
“Unfortunately, Nigerians are not happy, likewise the international community.
“The protest is a way of demonstrating our position and feelings that we are demanding for the release of these girls, to have them available in schools for the teachers to teach them the curriculum that has been provided.”
Jibir said that the protest was also in line with the position of the international community to ensure that the girls are rescued, safe and alive.
Jibir called on the military and the international security agencies to be careful in carrying out their rescue operations in order not to lose any of the girls.
“The demand of the NUT is to ensure that the objective of the rescue mission is to bring them safe and alive,” he said.
Jibir also called on the Federal Government to ensure adequate compensation to the families of the teachers that were killed by the insurgents.
He also called on government to ensure security in the school system.
Also, Labaran Garba, the Assistant Secretary of the NUT FCT chapter, said the protest was also to lend the chapter’s voice in condemning the abduction of the girls.
Garba said Nigerians should not relent in their prayers for the abducted school girls, adding that the entire country and the teachers were at a crossroad.
On his part, Mallam Usman Abubakar, a teacher at L.E.A. Paipe, Life Camp, FCT, condemned the way and manner that the girls were abducted.
Abubakar said: “We also want to plead with the abductors to please release our girls.
“They are innocent and they are not in government.
“They are not policy makers.”
Some of the placards carried inscriptions like: “Don’t mortgage the future of our girls”, “Support government to crush Boko Haram insurgents”.
Others were: “Education is a right, Chibok girls should be brought back to school”, “Please release our students, Boko Haram leaders are educated, please don’t deceive us”.
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